The oddities surrounding Ethel Lestrange
by formalkitty
Summary: Ethel Lestarange wasn't very... Lestrange. Unlike her brothers she didn't enjoy learning about their family history or hate muggles, she was just Ethel: Shy, sarcastic & socially awkward. So what happens when she accidentally befriends Sirius Orion Black and pisses off her entire family? "I don't smile unless there's a reason to." "I guess we don't have a lot of those, eh?"
1. Chapter I

**So first chapter of a new story.**

 **Let me know what you think with a review ^-^**

 **\- formalkitty -**

"Hey, Ethel wait up!"

Ethel continued walking but slowed down a little allowing Lily to catch up to her.

"Geez Ethel, I didn't know you were that desperate to get rid of me."

"Well, you catch up to me didn't you?" The blonde haired girl retorted with a shrug, "plus, you've really got to work on your fitness Lily, it's horrendous."

The two girls walked towards the great hall casually talking about homework, teachers and Lily's new crush Elias McCarran. Once inside the hall they split up and went to their respective tables: Lily to Gryffindor, Ethel to Ravenclaw. Secretly Ethel was happy that she didn't belong in the same house as her friend, that would mean she belonged in the same house as James Potter and Sirius Black and they were, at least according to Lily, not very nice people. Not that Ethel was nice in any way, people just kept on misinterpreting her, thinking it was humour and not her bitchy attitude that led her to say mean things.

After breakfast Ethel found Lily arguing in the corner with Potter.

"I'll never go out with you James Potter, I'd rather bathe in undiluted bubotuber pus!" Lily's face mashed her hair nicely and Ethel allowed a smile to creep onto her face. Only Potter could withdraw such strong emotions from the otherwise calm witch.

"Tough life loverboy," she laid a hand on Lily's shoulder, ""put I'll have to kidnap your Princess since she has to get to advanced arithmancy with me." Potter just looked dumbfounded at her, as if trying to figure out who she was. Ethel chuckled a bit, good luck with that Potty, it's not like you ever pay attention to anything else than Lily.

"Come on Lils, we are going to be late if we keep on standing around." She tugged at her friend's shoulder making her follow suit.

"He is, he's just so, so, so infuriating," Lilly spluttered, "and then he calls me his Lilly, or little flower bud. I'm not his, and I'm definitely not some stupid garden flower." In her fury, Lily almost stumbled on the staircase only to be caught by Ethel.

"Watch where you step Lils."

Lily waved her off, "yeah, yeah… will do, okay?"

They continued on at a faster pace. They finally reached class where Professor Averill, a tall lanky woman with long honey blond hair, awaited the few students that had actually made it into the class. When they entered she gave them a small grin. Ethel frowned, while both Lily and Ethel had made the class, she held no delusions her teacher like her as much as Lily. Probably an effect of her, so called, lack of enthusiasm in the lessons: Ethel never answered any questions if she could avoid it. The lesson began shortly after when Lucius Malfoy and her brother Rodolphus.

Ethel quickly became bored, she had hoped the lesson would bring some new material to the table but it seemed she had wasted a wish. Her thought drifted to her brother. They were so different. Sure, she looked a lot like him as they both had curly black hair, alabaster skin and the same high cheekbones, that made their aunts coo over them, but that was it. The resemblance stopped there. He was a Slytherin, the perfect pureblood heir her parents wanted while she was the black sheep of the family. The process of excluding her from the family had started when she was sorted into Ravenclaw, only to intensify when she became fast friends with Lily Evans and didn't want to join the Slytherins in mocking the muggleborn students. It had escalated this summer after her fifth year at Hogwarts. She had received a letter just before the summer break telling her that she wouldn't be allowed to come home. It didn't say any more than that, nor any less. Just one line: 'Ethel, please do refrain from coming home with your brothers'.

She hadn't told anyone and had instead gotten herself a summer job as an assistant at Ollivander's wand shop. This had made it possible for her to rent a room at The Leaking Cauldron. A sharp voice that could only belong to Professor Averill broke her train of thought.

"Miss Lestrange, I see you are not paying attention, you must think yourself too good for this class."

Lily shot her a pitying glance, Ethel just sighed. This was troublesome.

"Well then, tell me what is the reduced number of Anapneo." Ethel could already see the triumphant smirk forming on Averill's lips as she waited for her to fail. A certain stubbornness took hold of her, she'd be damned if she allowed the witch to ruin her favourite subject. Quickly she did a mental math _'1…3..11..18 and then 6, yes that was nineteen, that meant the result had to be two, right?'_

Ethel answered the question making sure her voice was smooth and even.

"Two, Professor."

Judging by the sour look on Marian Averill's face she knew she had answered correctly, Ethel smirked a bit.

"As the spell is meant for clearing a person's airways I think it makes sense too. The number two symbolises harmony and opposing forces, so it makes sense that the basic number this spell is based on is two."

Averill mumbled something that sounded like 'stupid Ravenclaw brains' and continued on with her lesson. Lucius and Rudolphus just remained silent and gave her a dirty look.

.

The lesson finally ended! Ethel hurriedly packed up her backpack hoping that she could reach the door before…

"Ethel, could you stay behind."

Well, bullocks. There went her chance for freedom, so close yet so far.

She turned to Lily, "Lils, you go on without me. We'll meet up later in the library right?" Lily nodded.

The two girls only had this one lesson together on Mondays, since Lily had dropped herbology to make space for runes, so Ethel knew she would be a loner for the rest of her day. Sighing, for what felt like the thousandth time that day she rubbed her eyes and walked back to the pulpit where she was sure impending doom would await her.

"I thought that since you seem so bored in my lessons I ought to give you something to, ahh, motivate you!" Ethel nearly began crying then and there. She knew all too well what Professor Averill had in mind: A mountain of extra homework.

.

10 minutes and several assignments later Ethel Lestrange walked down the pathways to Greenhouse number 6, a lesson she knew she would share with one Sirius Black as her partner. Oh God, what had she done in her former life to deserve this misery?

She turned left and reached the greenhouse, opened the door and silently joined the group of gathered students. It turned out they had to work with extracting snargaluff pods, an awfully hard job if you asked Ethel. To her dread, Sirius seemed to look at her more intensely than he had in previous lessons.

"You're the girl that hung out with Evans, right?"

Ethel nodded, concentrating on tying knots on the murderous bramble-like vines that sprang at her every time her hand neared the plant.

"Is there possibly a chance that she'd go out with James sometimes soon?" Ethel snorted, now that was an unlikely scenario. The vine caught her wrist and she had to beat if off with her other hand. panting heavily she looked at Sirius.

"Listen, dude… If you help me control this monstrous plant I'll talk to you guys about Lily and her… preferences in men, okay?" He looked at the plant, then at her, then back at the plant. Probably contemplating whether or not his friend's romance it was worth risking a hand.

"I bet he's really irritating, whining about her all the time, all the time Sirius." She tried enticing him.

It worked, for some reason beyond her imagination listening to James Potter's complaints about Lily was worse than the possibility of losing a couple of body parts to a plant.

Together they 'defeated' the snargaluff and handed over the pods to Professor Sprout. She smiled toothily at them.

"Good job my dears, you are free to go but remember to hand in the assignment on today's lesson next time."

Ethel split with Sirius, promising him to meet him and his friends in the library tomorrow after school. She then went on with her day: going to classes, zoning out in those same classes…

While the lowlight of her day had been herbology class the highlight was studying with Lily in the library, that is of course until she began considering how to tell Lily that she wouldn't be free to meet her the next day…

 _'Should I tell her why? no, that's probably not the best of ideas, she'd go ballistic if she knew if was spending time with "The Marauders", voluntarily or not. So, then no reason at all? No, that would be weird… God, why did you make me awkward like this? Maybe I should just make up a fake reason, say I'm going to talk to some friends, Lils would probably believe me if not because it's believable then because she wants it to be real for me. Yeah, that is a good idea.'_

As always Ethel felt her inner dialogues could best be described as the ramblings of a drunken old woman trying to escape a family meeting. Preferably her great aunt Edith trying to get out of going to the annual family reunion. God, she loved that woman.

"Lils," Lily looked up from her book.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not going to be able to meet up tomorrow," Ethel tried to avoid twisting her hands nervously. Lying usually came easy to her, just not with Lily, probably because she was the only person Ethel really wanted to like her.

"Okay, why not?" Lily's curious stare only made it harder to stay calm and collected…

"Well, I've been writing with one of the Ravenclaw girls from my year throughout this summer. I thought it would be a good idea to get some other friends, not that you aren't enough it's just that I, I don't want to be entirely alone anymore and…" Crossing her fingers Ethel hoped that Lily would take the bait and when the redhead's eyes softened she knew that avoided disaster, at least for now.

"Oh Ethel, of course, it's okay for you to go get some new friends, I think it's a brilliant idea. I can go hang out with Marlene and Alice then!"

Ethel just smiled meekly, oh joy.

.

The very next day after classes Ethel slowly moved towards the library, she was in absolutely no need to rush, like at all. Surprisingly she still reached it before the boys and plopped down on a stool near the entrance so that she could see them when they walked in.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, maybe they'd forgotten her. She wasn't really that popular and therefore easy to overlook, they might have already forgotten that she even existed. Realistically Ethel knew that it was too much to hope for and decided that she might as well get started on one of her countless arithmancy assignments.

Engrossed in her work she didn't even notice Sirius Black approaching her before he stood right in front of her.

"Uhm, what are you doing?" Startled by the sudden sound she jumped in her seat. Impressive Ethel, very impressive. Now say something cool...

"It is an extra assignment. Just for me. A punishment for being smart."

As Sirius cracked a smile she knew she hadn't done that bad. Maybe this really wasn't going to be horrible.

"Okay, think you can find the time to lay away the punishment and join me and my friends miss…?" Realising that he didn't know her name Sirius became quiet.

"That's alright, nobody knows me anyway. It's Ethel by the way." She made sure to send him a small reassuring smile and then gestured for him to sit down. Sirius, in turn, gestured for three boys, whom she recognised as Lupin, Potter and Pettigrew, to sit down too.

Sending her a boyish grin that would have made any other girls heart flutter Sirius leant in over the table looking her deep in the eyes.

"Now, tell me Ethel, how come Lily won't go out with James?" James nodded excitedly at the question.

"Do you want the sugar coated version or the harsh honesty?"

"Harsh honesty?" James stated, but it really sounded more like a question. Ethel just rolled her eyes, of course, they wouldn't let her take the easy way.

"She thinks you are a dick," she thoroughly enjoyed their shocked expression, "You're just too immature for her, Potter. The way you always bully Snape, I know that they are not exactly on speaking terms at the moment but he still means a lot to her. I also think that she's afraid that you don't really love her at all."

At the last notion James looked visually confused, "how can she not know that? I tell it to her every day."

Ethel sighed.

"There's a difference between telling and showing. Ask yourself, do you really know Lily, James? Did you know that her favourite colour is orange? Or, that she loves reading those stupid romantic muggle novels? Or, that she always eats chocolate pancakes for her birthday breakfast?"

By then James looked at her as if she was an alien life form that had descended upon earth to overthrow the government.

"If you really care about her, try to become her friend before you become her lover, James." With those finishing words, Ethel began scribbling down notes for her assignment once more.

.

.

As the boys exited the library James was still in shock. Remus, however, was glad that someone finally told James to listen to Lily, to get to know her. He had tried himself but the message just hadn't sunk in. That girl, though, had really made James think.

"You know what, Prongs I think she is on to something." James looked at him in wonder.

"Yeah Moony, I think so too.

.

.

Sirius Black wasn't thinking about James problems with winning over Lily. He was, instead, wondering why Ethel hadn't swooned at his boyish charm like every other girl did. She was a challenge and he liked that.

.

It was Saturday afternoon and Ethel was sitting with a panicked Lily at the banks of the school lake.

"And he has been weird all week, asking me questions like 'what is your favourite colour?' 'Do you have any siblings?' And so on. It's really unnerving me, Ethel, I just can't figure out what he wants!" Lily threw her hands up above her head in frustration.

Ethel, however, remained calm on the outside. On the inside, she was laughing her head off. Lily might be book-smart but she wasn't always smart when it came to love.

"Maybe he just wants to get to know you, Lils."

Lily let out a disbelieving huff, "as if. No, I'm telling you, Ethel, he's up to something, I can feel it in the core of my very being."

"If you say so, Lils." Ethel directed her attention towards braiding Lily's hair in an intricate manner. Their relaxing moment was destroyed when Sirius Black and Remus Lupin came lounging by.

"Hey, Ethel!" Black's loud voice boomed across the entire area making people look around in confusion. Who was this 'Ethel' They'd never heard of?

Yay, attention, just what she had always wanted. Since she knew it was too late to flee now, he had already seen her, she just waved him over. Lily's reprimanding glare didn't really help all that much on her mood, which had suddenly turned gloomy.

"Oh well, at least he remembers my name," she remarked trying to lift the depressing atmosphere. The award for her efforts came shortly after in the form of a chuckle from Lily.

"Hey Ethel, Lily," Sirius plopped down beside them, he didn't really seem to care that Lily was sending him unfriendly vibes.

"Black," She sneered before turning to Lupin, "hello Remus had a nice day?"

"Yes, thank you, Lily. I did some reading in the library earlier and the elf served pumpkin pastries today so it has been an enjoyable day."

"No fair," Sirius put on a whiny face, "Why am I just Black when Moony is Remus? Tell her it's not fair Ethel."

Sirius stared at the black haired girl as if expecting her to actually do what he told her to, she just raised an eyebrow.

"And why would I do that, Sirius?"

"Because I'm incredibly handsome and has the cutest pouty face you've ever seen?" The suggestion bore an ounce arrogance that Ethel didn't find attractive at all.

"You know what Sirius? Sometimes your shallowness is so thorough, it's almost like depth."

Lily burst out laughing, clutching her sides whenever she pulled in shallow breaths. Remus just chuckled.

Sirius smiled fondly. His suspicion had been right she was very different from other girls. She didn't even seem to notice his good looks, which normally would have annoyed him but ultimately, at that moment, didn't. Ethel also possessed a sarcastic humour: She could make a good friend someday in the future if he kept talking to her.

"So Ethel," Sirius tried to start a conversation, "how's arithmancy going? Finished yet?"

"Nah I've been busy procrastinating all day, actually I've been busy procrastinating all week."

"Too bad."

Lily looked over at Ethel with a mixture of surprise and hurt, "why didn't you tell me you got an extra assignment?" Ethel immediately understood that Lils wasn't asking her why she didn't tell her, but why she had told Sirius before her.

"It really didn't seem that important, the only reason Sirius knows is because I mentioned it in herbology a few days ago."

Remus had decided to sit down too and was now reading a muggle book that Ethel didn't recognise. Sirius wasn't a big bookworm and the calm atmosphere was gritting at his nerves. He wasn't used to not moving around and would normally play quidditch with James or flirt with some girl by now. But today James had been absolutely insufferable, complaining about his misfortune and his dearest 'Lily flower'.

Still, it couldn't be healthy to sit here all day, could it?

Looking over at Lily and Ethel he saw that they had resumed the earlier conversation.

"Hey, girls… isn't it a tiny bit boring to just sit around all day? Come on let's go exploring."

Ethel couldn't help but think that Sirius looked like an eager puppy as he awaited their reply. She wanted to say yes, truth be told she liked being active but Lily was more of a non-sporty person so they usually just read, or talked about their various problems. Not that she didn't like talking to Lils, she absolutely adored the girl but it became a bit repetitive after some time.

Saying yes would be nice but at the same time, it would draw unwanted attention to herself so she decided on a middle ground.

"Maybe some other time, Sirius?"

"Aww, but come on Ethel, can't we go play quidditch or something? What about a game of exploding snap?"

.

.

Lily watched in amusement as her otherwise shy friend bantered with Black getting more and more heated up by the moment. Ethel's comments were, well they were Ethel: Polite but with an edge of sarcasm. The discussion had started with Sirius trying to get them to do something else than 'just sitting around' but had taken a drastic change and now revolved around some new broom and whether or not it was better than the old one in the cleansweep series.

"I'm telling you, Ethel, there's a major difference!"

"I do not believe so Mr Black."

"But there is!"

"Can't you just be quiet?"

"No, cause there is a difference, it's way easier to do stunts with the new edition. Besides, how would you know? It's not like you play quidditch on a regular basis."

"Actually I do Mr Black, now please be quiet your horrendous voice is making my head pound, and you know what they say: Silence is gold."

Sirius looked like he was about to protest when Ethel shot him a murderous glare.

"The other option is silver… Silver is dutch tape."

Lily giggled, judging by the horrified expression Sirius now wore on his face, he was aware of the muggle invention called dutch tape.

They all looked over at Remus when a book snapped shut.

"I think we should get to dinner, eh?" The boy scratched his neck sheepishly.

"Yeah I guess so," Sirius sent the girls an award winning smile, "I guess we'll see you around."

Ethel just sighed. Stupid jerk, saying she didn't play quidditch. She did so, thank you very much, just not on the Ravenclaw house team. Why would she want that? It would only put her in the spotlight and Ethel Lestrange really didn't need the public looking into her life.

Well, at least Sirius would forget about her soon...

.

.

That, however, didn't happen and over the coming months the two grew closer due to Sirius' constant barrage at her mental barriers.


	2. Chapter II

**Another chapter, yay.**

 **Thank you, PerkyPrincess, for reviewing :)**

 **\- formalkitty -**

"Well hello there, if it isn't my favourite Ravenclaw, Ethel, how have you been doing?"

Ethel exhaled in an exasperated manner, seriously it had only been one day since they'd last been talking.

"I've been fine since yesterday, you?"

She went back to furiously scribbling down notes for arithmancy zoning Sirius out, she wasn't really interested in knowing what he had to say. Damn, why did it have to be so difficult? Stupid Marian…

"Are you even listening to me right now?" Sirius waved his hand infant of her paper and thereby broke her concentration.

"Not really."

"Geez, thank you Ethel, some friend you are."

She just shrugged, "unless you bear gifts of coffee, would you mind pissing off?"

He pulled out a chair and plunked down next to her.

"You and your coffee, princess." That comment made her look up.

"I believe in coffee, coffee for everyone."

He smiled fondly at her, "how come you can talk to me this comfortably and then James and Remus come along and you won't say a word."

"Oh, I wonder… Might be because of my crippling social angst, eh? No? Well, I guess there's another reason now we just need to find it. Besides, shouldn't you be with Marlene right now?"

Sirius wiggled his brows making her chuckle, "jealous, much?

"Oh yeah, I want you all to myself," her tone was so monotone that even a brick wall could feel the sarcasm. Sure, Sirius was handsome with his windswept hair and aristocratic features but Ethel had seen the way he treated girls. She felt much more comfortable being his so-called friend, especially since she had learned that people were so busy talking about Sirius' love life that they didn't have the time to worry about his friends.

"I know what'll cheer you up, Ethel!"

"I really doubt that, Sirius." She didn't suppose he had the answer to all of the extra work Marian Averill had loaded her with, "besides, and this time I'm asking for real, shouldn't you spend some time with your girlfriend?"

Sirius removed the feather from between her dainty fingers and began drawing circles on the palm of her hand. She turned to look at him, he only ever did that when he wanted to talk to her about something that bothered him.

"I'm thinking of breaking up with her."

This didn't come as a surprise, Marlene had lasted longer than any of the other girls Sirius had been with while she had known him. A month to be exact, most only lasted a week or a couple of days before he dumped them.

"I, I think she is cheating on me."

That, however, was a surprise. Ethel looked at him in shock, her mouth gaping.

"Why would you think that?"

Sirius held her hand a bit too tight, it actually hurt, yet Ethel didn't say anything about it. Never before had she seen Sirius look so heartbroken, she hadn't known Marlene meant that much to her friend. To be honest, Ethel had assumed that she was just another face on another pretty body that Sirius felt the need to bang in the broom closet.

"I saw her pull Jonathan Barnett into an empty classroom."

"Sirius, there is no real proof that they were actually going to do ~it~, you know."

"I heard her, Marlene is a screamer."

"Ohhh…" What was she supposed to say to that? Putting aside the fact that she had just discovered a detail about Marlene McKinnon's sex life, one she definitely hadn't needed to know, she wasn't really sure what to do in this situation. Lily had only ever bitched about Potter so she really had no experience with dealing with heartbreak.

"Do you, do you want a hug or something?"

Smooth Ethel, really smooth. She felt stupid as soon as the words left her mouth. Sirius, however, didn't seem to mind her awkwardness as a tear rolled down his cheek.

"Yeah, I think I would like that."

He then engulfed her in a tight hug and for a long time they just sat there, in the library, hugging. Ethel broke their hug when she heard a couple of fourth-year girls from Hufflepuff giggling and saw them pointing fingers in their general direction.

"Come on Siri, I think I have the perfect thing to cheer you up."

.

.

Sirius followed Ethel as she led them down yet another hallway. She stopped when they reached the portrait that led to the kitchens. He smiled a little, he had shown her the entrance a couple of weeks ago not foreseeing the, erm, unfortunate repercussions it would have: Ethel being antisocial had seen it as an opportunity to avoid coming to meals in the Great Hall. For a whole week, she hadn't come to a single meal. This had only stopped when a fuming Evans had stomped up to him demanding to know what he had done to her friend. Scared for his life, Sirius had told her about Ethel's visits to the kitchens. Lily had mumbled something about him being a moron under her breath and raced off. The next day Ethel had started coming to meals again, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what exactly Lily had done to the poor girl.

"Can you wait here for a minute, Siri? I'll be quick."

He nodded and Ethel tickled the pear.

Now that he was left alone, Sirius' thoughts wandered off in dark directions. He had really thought that Marlene was the one, she had been different somehow, it wasn't something he could describe, no it was something he could feel. Like an aura or something. He had, for the first time in forever, allowed himself to get attached to someone, a feat that didn't come easily to Sirius as that required for him to open up to people. Merlin, the only people he had ever let in before her was James, Peter and Remus. He hadn't even allowed Ethel all the way into his heart, as he was not going to trust her to keep it intact. That's why it hurt so bad when he saw him pull Barnett into that classroom. That's why it felt like a knife had been stuck into his chest and was now being twisted around slowly. He hadn't dared to talk to the other Marauders about it. He was afraid they'd ask questions, pity him. No, they wouldn't understand. James was too warped up in being in love with Lily, Remus had enough to see to as it was, full moon was nearing, and Peter… Well, Peter was Peter. Ethel had seemed like a much better choice by far. His inner rambling was cut off by the self-same girl he had just been thinking of exciting the entrance to the kitchens. She held in her hand a basket of some kind and a heavenly smell was spreading from it.

"Come on Siri." She sent him a lopsided smile that made him feel marginally better.

Once more he found himself following her, this time to the astronomy tower. Ethel plopped down near the open window in a not so ladylike way and gestured for him to do the same. She then opened the basket.

"Pizza," she explained as he stared at the weird slices of something, "it's a muggle food, come on try it."

And he did, his eyes widened, this tasted really good!

Ethel smirked a bit nibbling at her slice.

"I knew you'd like it. There's no moment in life that can't be improved by pizza."

And, if only for a short moment of time comparable to a raindrop falling into an ocean, Sirius forgot everything about Marlene. It was then they witnessed the first snowflakes fall onto Hogwarts extensive grounds. That moment Sirius would remember for as long as he lived, he just didn't know it yet…


	3. Chapter III

The very next day Sirius broke up with Marlene. Ethel secretly thought he went too soft on her, he didn't do it in public or scream that she was cheating whore. Not that Ethel supported that kind of violent language… Nope, not at all. Marlene, being a little diva, had decided to make a scene out of crying her eyes out. A scene that had resulted in Lily reprimanding James for hanging out with Sirius and poor James, who had finally gotten past her calling him 'an arrogant toerag' and moved on to a simple passive aggressive 'Potter', had in return become angry at Sirius for 'playing around with Mckinnon and thereby destroy his fragile relation to Lily Evans. Ethel though didn't give a flying fuck about Marlene or James, she just wanted to make sure that she could maintain her friendships with both Lily and Sirius. It was going to be complicated since Lily had gone from barely tolerating Sirius to abhorring the man in a matter of seconds.

She would have to try really hard but she supposed it would be worth it in the end. All of her life she'd never had any friends except Lily, and then she met Sirius. He wasn't perfect, well he was pretty much made out of imperfections but he had his moments. And, most importantly of all, he had wanted to be her friend. Not Lily's, not Alice's or Marlene's. Hers. No, Ethel was not ready to lose a friend, she had way to few already.

It was with this thought in mind she made her way across the Great Hall to the Gryffindor table. Lily and Alice were busy smothering Marlene in pity so she decided that her talk with the redhead would have to wait for a little while and instead went over to the Marauders.

Peter was as usual quite oblivious to his surroundings and busy concentrating on his breakfast, she never really liked him but Sirius said he was cool so she just accepted his presence for what it was. James stole a glance at Lily every other second, perhaps he was hoping she would look at him too. Tough luck. Remus, being the most perceptive of the boys, was sending Sirius some questioning looks. Talking about Remus, he really looked bad today, had he catches the flu or something?

Ethel's thoughts quickly blew away from Remus when she saw Sirius' body hunched over a bowl of oatmeal. He eyes were empty and filled with unshed tears and he mechanically used the spoon in his hand to move the clumpy mass from his plate to his mouth. She surprised everyone by sitting down next to him.

Now, if one knew Ethel Lestrange one would know that she avoided attention at all costs. Sitting with the Marauders was definitely classified as attention bringing. Ethel knew she would regret it big time at a later date when she heard someone whisper about them but at the moment she just couldn't bring herself to care.

"Siri," she removed the spoon from his hand and put his rough hand between hers. Even then his hand was still too big for her to cover, mainly because of Ethel's poor height. As a 5'2 17-year-old she wasn't really a skyscraper.

"It's going to be alright."

At this Sirius grimaced a gesture Ethel supposed was his attempt at a smile: A feeble substitute for his usual 100-watt smile.

She squeezed his hand and filled her plate with eggs and bacon. After a while, Sirius himself began eating again.

.

.

James had, finally, realised that something was wrong with his friend. This wasn't how he usually behaved when he had just broken up with a girl. Normally he would already be talking about what girl he was going to chase after next. This Padfoot was different, his eyes held none of their usual spark and he hadn't spoken a word since they sat down.

"Hey, mate… Are you, okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit tired and all."

James knitted his brows trying to figure out why Sirius wouldn't answer him. Well, Sirius had answered him but his voice had been so dull as if all the colour had been sucked out of it. James sent a questioning glance at, was it Ethel? He really didn't know the girl all that well put she had become a stable part of Padfoot's life during the last couple of months. James honestly didn't understand why, she didn't really fit into the stereotype; tall and slender with long luscious hair, that Sirius usually dated. The girl's features actually reminded him a lot of Sirius own features, just more 'womanish'? Yeah, that was definitely the word he was looking for… not. But in all seriousness: The girl was pretty, but he had seen prettier girls, and she was polite, but he had met more poised witches. She was also timid, and that was, in James' eyes, a big no-go when one was to be friends with Sirius Orion Black: He was simply to outgoing for timidness.

The girl sent him a look that clearly said I-will-talk-to-you-about-this-later. James nodded to show that he had understood her message. She sent him a small smile before returning to eating her breakfast.

James heard a cough, probably from Moony, and was reminded that it was going to be full moon soon.

.

.

"I just don't understand how you can sit with him after what he did to Marlene!"

Lily and Ethel were having a heated debate or a heated monologue… The so-called conversation mostly consisted of Lily denouncing Ethel's friendship with Sirius Black and Ethel's standard reply; 'if you say so, Lils', a reply Lily was growing tired of by the minute.

"If you say so, Lils," a monotone voice replied to her statement.

"I dare you, Ethel Lestrange, to say that one more time." Lily knew she was a bit too worked up for her own good, but at the moment she was seeing red. How come Ethel couldn't muster up just an ounce of sympathy for Marlene?

"If you say so, Lils."

"You are unbelievable Lestrange," Lily threw her hands up towards the sky in disbelief, "I can't, I can't even! I need a bit of time alone, okay?"

Lily regretted her words immediately as she saw the hurt in Ethel's eyes.

"Okay, Lily…"

The smaller girl left Lily feeling guilty as she ran down the hallway. Lily sighed, she didn't want to be on bad terms with Ethel but she was so angry at Black right now. She just didn't understand why Ethel had chosen him over her and Marlene in this argument. It was completely beyond her grasp, Ethel had seen Marlene crying and she knew Sirius Black was a heartless bastard but she had still sat down next to him a breakfast.

Well, no matter how terrible she felt she had to get to charms now…

.

.

"Come on Siri, help me with this!"

Ethel's cry for help brought Sirius out of his state of nothingness. The small girl was trying to carry a bag of dragon dung across the room, she was waddling and seemed dangerously fragile underneath the bag. He hurriedly snatched the bag from her grasp.

"You should have called me earlier, you are too small for such physical work."

The raven haired girl pouted, "but I did call you Siri, you just didn't hear me."

"Sorry," and Sirius was sorry. He just hadn't been feeling like himself today, something was just missing. Ethel glared at him, "yeah, sorry."

He just rolled his eyes and carried the fertiliser over to their workspace. They both pulled on their dragon hide gloves and began the tiring work of fertilising the venomous tentacle that they were growing. The physical work allowed Sirius to forget everything except for his task. As the plant tried to strangle him he let out a colourful combination of swear words before using a severing charm to free himself. This made the girl beside him giggle a little

"Not funny," he sneered.

"You wouldn't know funny if it hit you in the face."

"I would so."

"Would not.

"Would, I totally wo- eep!" Sirius sent another severing charm at the plant that had grabbed his left wrist this time.

Ethel sighed, "I suppose we have to concentrate on providing the ferocious plant nutrients so that it can grow bigger and better kill us…"

"Oh joy," Sirius added.

After class they went to the Great Hall for lunch, here Ethel split with Sirius to go eat at the Ravenclaw table. It was a quiet affair. No one really spoke to her but she got some curious glances from a couple of the girls. Probably had something to do with her being seen together with Sirius.

.

.

"Now tell me what is wrong with Sirius," James demanded and looked at the girl. He was proud to say that he had found out her name was indeed Ethel, not so proud of the admonishing glare Remus had given him when he had asked what her name was…

"He's heartbroken."

This shocked James. Heartbroken? Padfoot? those two didn't go together, they were like dog and cat, water and oil.

"Are you sure? He is Sirius, you know. The player, the heartbreaker, th-"

"Yeah, I know James, but just try to look at him! Can't you see that he's crushed by this breakup? They were together for a long time, a month I think."

James snorted, "a month isn't a long time."

"It is James, judged by Sirius standards it is."

She was right he realised, it was a long time for Sirius. It just didn't make any sense.

"If Padfoot wants to be together with Marlene why did he break up with her then?"

Ethel bit her lips as if contemplating whether or not to tell him something.

"Look, you have to talk with him about that yourself. Just, just be gentle with him, okay? Siri might seem tough skinned but I understand him a lot better than he thinks, and he rarely let anyone in like he did with Mckinnon."

James nodded, more than a little hurt that Padfoot apparently had gone to this girl with his problems instead of him and the other Marauders. 'Look, you have to talk with him about that yourself.' Her words were haunting him and he couldn't help but feel selfish, wasn't he supposed to be happy that Sirius had at least entrusted someone with his secrets?


	4. Chapter IV

James sat in a plushy bright yellow armchair in one of Hogwarts' joined common rooms. It was painted in a light blue colour and had a fireplace of white marble. He didn't feel very comfortable, though.

James was worried about his friend. He had observed him over the last two days, just like Ethel had asked him to. Right now Sirius was sitting in an armchair, much like his own, and flirting with a pretty blonde Ravenclaw seventh year: In conclusion, he looked like his usual arrogant self. James, however, didn't believe that one bit. Until a couple of hours ago Sirius had been more miserable looking than Snivellus Snape, and that said a lot. His friend hadn't been eating, instead pushing around his food around on his platter. Neither had he smiled but instead, a permanent scowl had been etched into his face.

And then, suddenly, he seemed fine. No, it was too fast, too suspicious.

He approached Padfoot and laid his hand on the other's shoulder. This made Sirius look away from the laughing blonde haired bimbo in front of him.

"Hey, what's up mate?"

James could see that the smile wasn't genuine, it seemed strained and his eyes seemed empty.

"You tell me, Padfoot." James tried not to sound annoyed, he really did, but it just didn't work at all.

"I don't know what you mean Prongs," Sirius' eyes flickered away from James' face.

James looked over at the girl who had finally stopped laughing like some mad woman. He hadn't liked her laugh, it had seemed so fabricated like she had practised it in the mirror or something.

"Scuff off, will ya?" The blonde seemed scared and nodded silently before disappearing quickly.

Sirius seemed to get agitated by this and hit James shoulder a bit harsher than necessary.

"Hey, what was that for? She didn't do anything to you, and she would have been a good fuck."

James frowned, "seriously, Padfoot? You've been mellowing in your own despair these last few days and now you want me to believe that you are _fine_? Well, I'll tell you something: Fat chance. You might not want to tell me why you are acting like a heartbroken teenage girl, but please don't pretend to be okay when you aren't." His last words were more of a plea than anything else. Ethel had been right, Padfoot wasn't okay, and he wasn't going to pretend he didn't care cause he really did care. And if there was one thing James Potter knew, it was that he didn't care about a lot of things. He didn't care about the latest gossip, people's opinion on him or society as a whole, no the few things he did care about could be counted on one hand: Lily, quidditch, the Marauders and having fun. He still had one finger left.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Prongs. I'm great, thank you." Sirius answer was pointed.

James narrowed his eyes, "fine be that way, but when you are ready to talk about why you are hanging around girls with blonde hair, like Marlene, and stupid doe eyes, like Marlene, you know where to find me."

With those last words he left a stunned Sirius Black and in a fit of desperation, he went to see the only person he knew he could talk to about his best friend. No, he didn't go see Moony as the boy had enough to see to for the next couple of days. He went towards the library.

.

.

Lily sat in the library surrounded by what seemed like a bazillion books. She supposed it was silly but she was still mad at Ethel and had, therefore, built a wall of books in-between them. She hadn't been able to get herself to cancel their study sessions, she was Ethel's friend after all and didn't want their friendship to be hurt too badly by childish antics, but that didn't mean she had just forgotten how the raven haired girl had brushed aside Marlene's feelings.

"Lils?" A voice called. It was unmistakably Ethel's.

She ignored it and continued reading for a couple of minutes.

"Lils, come on… Don't you think you are overreacting a bit?"

Once again she ignored Ethel.

"Lils…?"

This time Ethel was practically begging, her voice whiny and all. Lily's hand clenched.

"What do you want Ethel?" She sneered in irritation.

A small whine that sounded like hurt animal came back as a response. Lily instantly felt bad. A petite hand reached to the top of her book-wall and began removing book after book. Lily didn't stop the hand but she didn't help it either. Once a small hole had been formed the hand stopped and Lily leant forward to see her friend on the other side.

"Lily… Don't you think you are a bit unfair? I barely know Marlene and I doubt she even knows my name. Siri is my friend, though. How am I supposed to pick her over him?"

Lily sighed, Ethel just didn't understand.

"I'm not mad at you because you are not picking Marlene's side, I'm mad at you because you picked his side."

Ethel's face became dreary for a short moment, but she Lily saw something flicker in the other girl's eyes. Ethel was angry.

"But what do you know, Lily? You just saw Marlene crying and then you spring to conclusions. _'Oh, he's such a player! Must've left her for another girl,'_ you say and _'Ethel don't support your friend.'_ You only ever antagonize Sirius, just like you never give James a chance. When I deem Marlene unfit for my support you frown and tell me off for being selfish and heartless. So how come you can get away with judging James and Sirius without even getting to know them?"

For a moment Lily was stunned by Ethel's words, the demure girl never really spoke up for herself and the redhead had never seen her angry before. Her friend seemed just as shocked at her own behaviour, sitting stiffly in her chair with big terrified eyes and a slack jaw.

Lily felt a pang of remorse, maybe she had been a bit too harsh on the smaller girl.

"I know I overstepped, but you must understand that it is confusing to see you ignore a sweet girl's pain like that." Her words were half apology, half reprimand.

Ethel's eyes hardened once more, "Lils, you are my friend, my best friend. Marlene, however, is your friend, not mine. I do not like her one bit and while I respect your choice to be her friend I will never like her. I will refrain from acting mean towards her but no more than that."

"That's not true! Marlene has always treated you nicely!"

"Yeah, because of you. Face it, Lily, although you are a brilliant girl you tend to be oblivious when it comes to other people's feelings."

Lily felt her eyes tear up, it stung to hear something like that from her longtime friend. Just before she could throw back a mean retort she heard a familiar voice.

"There you are!"

James Potter, her thought was sour. What did that saddle-goose want now? She turned to face him. Potter looked winded like he had been running, his wild unruly hair was sticking in every direction possible and it, she thought, looked like a birds nest.

"What could you possibly wa-"

Lily didn't get to finish her sentence as James brushed her of and looked only at Ethel.

"Ethel, I need to talk with someone, and Peter is… well, you know? At least I think you do…" James seemed to be speculating over that for a couple of seconds before he continued, "well, yeah. And Remus, he is sick and Sirius has lost his sanity, I think?" By then James looked confused himself. Lily was just gawking at him, had he come to see Ethel instead of her? That had to be a first.

"Calm down, James. What do you say we go grab a bite to eat and a cup of coffee? I'm sure we can talk about whatever you want to talk about then," Ethel spot with soft words.

James nodded excitedly as relief washed over him. Lily caught Ethel's eyes

"I'll see you tomorrow, Lils."

And, as such, she was left ogling the pair as they left.

.

.

Ethel had chosen to take the most direct route to the kitchens which meant that they were now walking through a hidden pathway. James' wand lit up their surroundings with a simple lumos and oddly enough Ethel found that she quite enjoyed the silence. Talking to people often left her feeling exhausted… mentally, that was.

They exited the pathway and walked around the corner, here she found the painting that led to the kitchens and began tickling the pear.

"You know about the kitchens?" James sounded surprised.

"Yeah, Siri told me about it once, it's my favourite location. Free food, you know."

James chuckled.

The entrance was revealed shortly after and they went down together. The elves, as always, were busy and were, therefore, running around in a frenzy.

"Mindy," she called out and a little grey house elf appeared with a plop. It was wearing nothing but a dark red apron on which the Hogwarts emblem was engraved.

"Miss Ethy called Mindy. What can Mindy do to serve you Miss Ethy."

James snorted, "Miss Ethy?"

"Oh, stuff it James," Ethel all but huffed

"Young master Potty! Mindy didn't see you there, I is happy to serve you."

This time it was Ethel's turn to laugh… Potty, that was hilarious.

James scowled, "fetch us a cup of hot cocoa and some cookies won't you Mindy? Oh, and a cup of coffee for Miss Ethy too."

Mindy disappeared but Ethel's laughter didn't stop. She laughed so hard her stomach hurt and she was gasping for air.

"Aish, it wasn't that funny."

"That can be discussed… Potty," Ethel replied mockingly.

.

.

When the house-elf reappeared with their food and drinks they sat down on the kitchen contained no dinner tables since it was meant to be a working space.

"What did you want to talk about James?" Ethel asked in between sips of her coffee. God, she loved that black goop to death.

"I think you were right about Padfoot," he began.

"Well, duh?"

"He's acting weirdly, though, like there's nothing wrong and I don't understand why."

Ethel took another sip of the black liquid in her cup.

"I guess he's not used to feeling hurt…"

They talked for a while, about Sirius, about quidditch and small unimportant issues and when James bid Ethel goodbye he was beginning to see how she and Padfoot could become friends, she wasn't that bad.


	5. Chapter V

Sirius looked at the blonde in front of him and sent her a flirty smile he knew made women drop their panties. She was melting before his eyes, easily falling for him. Normally that would make him feel smug, but he found himself unsatisfied as if he had expected more from her. Sirius had wanted her to put up some kind of resistance. Like Marlene had…

No, this wasn't about Marlene, she was in the past: He was over her. But no matter how many times he repeated it, it just didn't feel real. It, in fact, felt less and less true for every time.

"Hello, Handsome," the blonde haired girl whispered in his ear.

Oh, she was definitely his type: Super hot, it just felt so empty. Like he had lived all his life knowing nothing but hollowness, and he had been fine with that because he didn't know what it felt like to have something meaningful. Then Marlene had come along and no matter what a rotten bitch she was he had let her in, and she had provided meaning. She had made him love her.

Sirius slid his arm around the blonde's waist and she giggled.

"Hello to you too, Gorgeous," he drawled.

Now that he had broken up with her he couldn't help but feel that it would have been better if he had just stayed. Logically he knew that she would only hurt him if he stayed: Over and over and over again, but he wasn't a rational being. Only one thing had stopped him from crawling back to Marlene, his pride. Sirius Orion Black was if nothing else prideful, and it was this so-called pride that made it impossible for him to fall flat before Marlene's feet and beg her for forgiveness. There was also the question about upholding his reputation, he was supposed to be the player, the hunter not the prey.

He slowly slid his hand downwards until he came to a standstill at her hips, here he playfully squeezed her and she gave a surprised squeal.

"My, my Siri. Aren't we a bit eager, eh?"

He froze, Siri. Only one person ever called him Siri, and this, this girl wasn't that person. It was Ethel. Small, shy Ethel with her grumpy attitude and silky, soft hands. Ethel, whose smile was a bit crooked and had eyes that seemed very similar to his own: Both aesthetically and in terms of experiences, they held as much caution as his. Now, Ethel was no Marlene, Sirius couldn't see himself together with her romantically, he had never really tried to, but she was the most stable female influence he had in his life. And for that reason, it felt decidedly wrong to hear the word 'Siri' come out of some other girl's mouth. Whatever had he done to make the blonde think it was okay to call him that?

It really wasn't.

Sirius withdrew his arm, the girl looked at him in confusion and acted her long eyelashes.

"What's wrong Siri?"

There it was again, Siri. To be honest it was not rational for it to affect him so much it just did anyway. All emotion was wiped from his face and he sent her a look filled with a silent anger. she, however, didn't seem to get the hint and reached out to touch him. Sirius flinched under her touch, it suddenly felt repulsive and forced.

He swatted her hand away, "don't touch me!"

It came out as a sneer which got the point across. She quickly backed away, dismay twisting her facial features into something ugly almost abysmal.

"Fine be that way, I thought you wanted me to touch you Black, but I guess I'm just not good enough for you, or what?"

He just looked at her, indifference clear in his every expression.

"Is this because of that pathetic cheating whore of yours? Yeah, everybody knows she fucks everything with two legs. Kind of like you; It must be fate, the perfect match!" She huffed.

He had to admit that what she said struck a nerve but Sirius wasn't one for losing his mask in public and at the current moment they were sitting in the Gryffindor common room being observed by at least twenty pairs of eyes.

"If I fuck everything with two legs, yet don't want to touch you with a ten feet pole, what does that make you?" He retorted and then strode out the common room leaving behind a room of chuckles.

Sirius Black was after all a Black and nobody messed with a Black without consequences.

.

He soon realised that he had left the common room without an actual plan. What was he supposed to do now? If he just stood around doing nothing his brain began working overtime and he began thinking about his Marlene, his beautiful yet filthy Marlene, in the empty classroom with that boy.

He considered finding James but quickly shot down the idea, he wasn't ready to confront his friend yet. Sometime soon, yes, but now, no.

Walking aimlessly around he soon moved outside in the biting cold. He wasn't dressed for the cold snowy weather but chose to ignore it. Even when the tingling in his fingertips and ears became pangs of pain he continued roaming around. Even when the snow stopped melting as it hit his body he didn't go inside. It was then he saw a small girl with a messy raven hair bun hurrying across the school grounds. She was wearing a white wool coat and an oversized scarf that seemed ridiculously big on her petite frame. It actually covered both her mouth and nose. He knew this girl, it was, beyond doubt, Ethel. For some strange reason, he felt the need to call out to her. To see if she would turn around and smile at him, if she carried enough to do so.

"Ethel," his voice was raspy, and his breath came out as a small cloud.

For a terrifying moment, she continued to walk, not looking back, but then she turned around. She didn't smile like he had imagined, instead, her eyes filled with worry and her lips spread apart making a small surprised o.

"Siri? What are you doing outside in those clothes?" She sounded alarmed.

Sirius smiled weakly and shrugged his shoulders, that was so Ethel. She was always worrying about the smallest details. Like, seriously, he wasn't on the brink of death or anything serious.

"Siri, how long have you been out here?" She spoke slowly but he didn't mind. For some reason, her voice was calming. He remembered the way the blonde girl from before had said her word, 'Siri'. There was such a difference. Ethel actually cared about him, it wasn't just another pointless pet name when it came from her. It was his name.

"I don't know, an hour? two, tops?"

"Two hours?" She shrieked and bit her lip nervously. She always did that when she was nervous or unsettled. It was kind of cute in a totally nonsexual way, Ethel was not like any of the other girls. She was a friend.

"Don't worry, I don't feel cold at all," he tried to reason. It, however, seemed to make her even more worried as she hurried towards him.

She quickly removed her scarf and draped it around his neck, then repeated the process with her thick coat. They smelled like her, Sirius noted, vanilla and raspberry. It was nice…

Well, that wasn't at all creepy.

"Here, lean on me," she positioned his arm on her shoulders and together they walked towards the castle in silence.

Once they were inside Sirius was hit by a heatwave. Maybe he had been freezing after all?

Ethel directed them towards one of the unused classrooms.

Once inside she cast a heating spell at him and he felt much better at once.

"I guess it was kind of cold," he said jokingly with a silly smile. Ethel looked at him as if he was a mad man.

"You think, you think, Siri? Really? I suppose you were only walking around outside in the snow wearing nothing but a stupid muggle t-shirt and a pair of trousers, that shouldn't be cold at all." She grew her hands up in an exaggerated gesture.

He watched her affectionately as she paced around the room, then cast a drying charm on both her and himself.

"Relax Ethel, it's not as if anything happened."

"Sirius Orion Black, I kid you not, I hope you get terribly sick just so that you can learn to take care of yourself! Just because we aren't muggles doesn't mean we are immune to the common cold, or the flu."

He chuckled a bit but it soon developed into coughs.

"See! You're already sounding like you're coughing your lungs up, I knew this would happen. Why were you out there anyway?"

Sirius stayed silent, it was a stupid reason, one that he wouldn't like to share with anyone. Nevertheless, his eyes gave him away as they became pools of hurt.

"It was because of Marlene, wasn't it?" Ethel didn't wait for his answer as her ears became an angry red colour due to the fury she was feeling.

"I'll kill that girl, ugh."

"Geez, Ethel I think you are going insane, what do the voices tell you to do?" Sirius asked nervously trying to ease her tension.

It worked: Ethel's shoulders relaxed and she slumped into the nearest chair with a sigh.

"They are telling me that you are the crazy one. What were you thinking? It is snowing outside."

"That's the problem, I wasn't thinking," he muttered looking intensely at the floor.

"Oh, Siri. You stupid boy." She stood up and engulfed him in a hug.

Shortly after they parted ways and he went to sleep.

.

.

The very next day Sirius was missing at breakfast. Ethel looked impatiently around the hall. Where was he? Deciding that she would only get her answers by asking James or one of the other Marauders she swallowed her social anxiety. Speaking of other human beings wasn't scary at all, no, not scary at all. With this in mind, she sauntered, or tried to saunter, over to the Gryffindor table where she pointedly ignored Lily.

"James," she cleared her throat, the awkwardness was in the air…

James Potter turned around and sent her a tired smile. Then he yawned, "yes, Ethel?"

She swallowed the lump that had mysteriously formed in her throat and tried to ignore all of the stares they got.

"Where is Siri?"

James snorted, "sick, he's coughing like crazy. Said not to tell you, though."

She gritted her teeth, "he's such a fool, James kick his arse for me, would you?"

James saluted her, "sir, yes, sir!"

"And you struggle to understand why Lils doesn't want to date you?" She wondered out loud.

James smirked, "yeah, I mean, why not? There's so much of me to love? You like me, don't you, Ethel?"

"I barely tolerate your childishness for the sake of Siri, James," Ethel replied in a loving but mocking way that made both Remus and Peter laugh their heads off.

"Well, I guess I'll visit Siri later today…"

.

Ethel continued on with her day. She avoided Lily as if she was the plague, talked briefly with a couple of her other year mates and exchanged chilly glares with Marlene Mckinnon. All of this combined made up a pretty shitty day and only the thought of telling Sirius 'see, I was right' made it tolerable. She was going to rub it into his face so bad. He was going down.

At the current moment, she was heading towards the infirmary to pick up some cough syrup for him. It was available for students of all ages at any time which meant she could just go inside, fetch it from the closet and disappear without having to talk to the nurse.

And so she got the cough syrup and went on to deliver it to its recipient: One Sirius Black.

Getting past the fat lady was easy as Siri told her the new password every time it changed, just in case she wanted to visit.

As it turned out James, Remus and Peter had managed to drag Sirius down the stairs and place him comfortably in one of the bright red couches together with a bazillion pillows and just as many blankets.

"Sweet merlin, Siri, you look awful!" Ethel exclaimed, and he really did. His eyes were run, his skin seemed dull and his nose was constantly laughing.

He sent her an unimpressed look.

"But, yeah, I told you so, now didn't I? And as you can see, I, the great and omnipotent Ethel, was right. suck it loser."

Sirius tried to respond but instead ended up in a coughing fit. Ethel waited till it stopped before she started talking again.

"I got this for you," she held up the small phial, "cough syrup. Now take it before I decide to pour it down your throat."

He reached out and grabbed the phial, then downed it in one go.

"Thank you, Ethel."


	6. Chapter VI

Sirius was feeling worse than horrible. His head throbbed, his throat hurt, the only reason he didn't cough was because of the cough syrup Ethel had given him, and he was constantly shifting between feeling incredibly hot and incredibly cold. Right then and there Sirius was feeling incredibly hot, he was sweating all over the place and had tried to throw his blankets away. James though had insisted that he should keep them, 'it's better this way, fevers don't go away unless you keep warm'.

Well for all Sirius knew fevers could go take a shit in the woods: He was dying here!

There was also another problem, Moony was looking worse than ever since it was going to be full moon that night. He wouldn't be there to help him and he didn't like that one bit. Logically he knew that Prongs and Wormtail would be able to handle Moony's furry little problem without him but he still wanted to be there. He had never missed a transformation since they turned animagus.

Suddenly Sirius didn't feel hot any longer, now he was cold, really cold. He whimpered and crawled further down underneath his blankets. Why did he go outside in the first place? Oh, that's right, because he missed Marlene… speaking of Marlene, what was she doing? Had she just moved on? The thought hurt him more than he had wished for. Here he was crying rivers over her, and she, she had possibly moved on. A lone tear slid down his cheek.

"Siri? Are you okay?" He turned to look at Ethel, concern shone in her eyes as she knitted her brows.

"Yeah…"

She looked at him in disbelief and Prongs grunted, clearly not believing his words.

"If you say so, Siri," she patted his head. Her hand felt really warm, in a nice non-feverish way. Then she stood up.

"I'll go get you some soup, any wishes?"

"No, just get me something hot," She nodded and turned to leave, he, however, didn't feel like letting her go yet.

"Ethel," she turned around and locked eyes with him, "will you also bring some water?"

A cheerful smile adorned her face, "anything for you Siri."

"Anything?" He asked wiggling his brows, her happy face superseded into one of mild disgust and fondness.

"Almost anything you little dipshit," then she turned to leave.

.

.

Prongs, or James as he was called more often, was fascinated by the way Ethel interacted with Padfoot. It almost seemed like she made him forget his own hurt. Sure Sirius still had moments where he looked incredibly troubled and still wasn't the Padfoot he knew and loved. But he was much closer to being James' Sirius when she was around. Maybe it was because of the playful banter the two of them kept going, maybe it was something else. James didn't really care but it enticed him.

"Padfoot," he said and caught the grey-eyed boys attention, "how did you become friends with her? You and Ethel are very different."

Sirius laughed a barking laughter, a real laughter.

"Well, sometimes I wonder too. I guess it was because of your obsession with Lily. I discovered that Ethel was her close friend and asked her to tell me why Lily wouldn't go out with you. Turned out she had a good sense of humour, so I kept on talking to her. In the beginning, she was very reserved but I just kept on going and in the end, she gave in. If you ask her, I'm sure she'd tell you that I was an annoying little git." Sirius chuckled.

James nodded his head in sympathy, Padfoot could be very annoying when he wanted to be so. He could understand why Ethel might say so. Still, he was happy for his friend, Ethel was a good friend to him, why couldn't Sirius date someone like her instead of girls like Marlene?

Oh yeah, because she was Padfoot's type. Quite unfortunate actually, he could see the two of them together. He had to ask, just once, maybe he was wrong.

"Have you ever considered dating Ethel, Padfoot?" He tried to sound casual, but his heart was beating a bit too quick. He knew the answer would probably be no, but he wished, no, he hoped he would say yes.

Sirius just laughed, "No, she's Ethel. How could I possibly date her? James, she's like… like a little sister to me or something. It would just be weird?"

James sighed. Pad foot clearly hadn't given it much thought and the situation with Marlene didn't help one bit.

It was then Wormtail coughed and James remembered that he and Remus were also in the room. Peter nodded towards the clock that hung on the wall, and James looked at it. It was almost time for the moon to shine.

"Go on," Sirius muttered, "Ethel, the girl I think of as a little sister, Prongs, will be here soon. I can take care of myself until then."

"Okay," James answered, "just wait here for Ethy to come back, will ya?"

"Ethy?" Sirius chuckled.

.

.

When Ethel returned balancing a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup and a glass of water on her hips she found Siri alone in the room.

"Siri?" she tried asking.

No reaction, he was asleep. Should she wake him up? But he looked so peaceful like that. She laid down the bowl and the glass on a small table and sat beside him.

Poor Siri, no matter how much he deserved to be sick after walking around outside like a fool she still thought it was a pity. He moved around a bit.

"Mar…?" He almost begged and reached out for her.

Ethel's eyes softened, even in his dreams he was thinking about her… She grabbed his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Ethy?" He mumbled.

"Yeah, it's me, Siri."

As she fell asleep too only one thought remained: Screw you, James…

.

.

Remus, Peter and James were exhausted, the sun had just set and it had been a harsh night for them all. Now Remus and James were sneaking through the hallways underneath James' invisibility cloak. Peter had shifted into a rat and therefore didn't need the cloak as badly as the other two.

When they returned to the Gryffindor common room they were met with a peculiar sight: One sleeping Sirius Black holding the hand of a sleeping Ethel very tightly. James almost cooed, they really looked sweet together, but he also knew he would have to wake them up as Ethel should probably go to her own dorm before everyone else awoke.

Moony had apparently reached the same conclusion since he shook both Ethel and Sirius.

"What?" Ethel blinked confusedly a couple of times, then yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Ah, James…" A murderous glint entered her otherwise calm eyes, "I have a bone to pick with you, Potty."

James gulped and chose to flee.

"I'm innocent," he screamed before running to the boys' dormitories.

"Like hell, you are James Potter," Ethel grunted.

Everyone but Sirius looked at her confusedly.

"You know what Ethel, I quite like the sound of Ethy…"

Ethel, who from now on was also known as Ethy, face palmed, how had it come to this?

"Not to break the… great mood? But Ethel has to return to the Ravenclaw dorms or else we are going to be in trouble." Remus nervously bit his lip and hoped Ethel would be the logical one and leave before McGonagall or some other teacher found out she was missing.

"Yeah," Ethel nodded, "Siri would you please release my hand?"

Sirius sheepishly looked down at their interlocked was holding on to her tightly. He blushed a bit and then released her hand.

"Sorry about that," he couldn't remember taking her hand, but Ethel wasn't the type for unneeded physical contact so he supposed he had needed it.

"It's alright, Siri," she patted him on the cheek in an amused manner. As if petting a dog.

"They soup is cold, though. I guess you can drink the water if you want to…"

With those words Ethel left the Gryffindor common room and hurried to the Ravenclaw dorms.

.

.

As the days went by Sirius became better and soon he was as healthy as ever. His gloominess didn't disappear, however, as he still shot longing glances at Marlene every time he saw her. He just became better at hiding it. He could smile and joke around when he was actually feeling immense distress.

James, Remus and Peter were happy to have their friend back, but Sirius just felt further away from them than ever before. On top of that Ethel had been busy reconciling with Lily. Yes, Sirius was almost happy his friends were going home for Yule tomorrow. He, of course, would stay at Hogwarts as his family didn't want him to go home. This was another thing that worried Sirius: His relationship with his family was plunging rapidly. They had gone from barely acknowledging to ignoring and hating him altogether. his life was indeed bleak.

.

James was unsure about leaving Sirius at Hogwarts, his friend had been gradually improving but he couldn't help but feel like there was something he overlooked. James was feeling doubtful and uneasy.

"Are you sure you do not want to go with me home, mate? Mum and dad won't mind one bit, they adore you to the moon and back."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Padfoot answered reassuringly, "I need some time alone anyway. Thanks, though."

James nodded, "then I'll see you later, Sirius."

"See you, Prongs." Sirius waved goodbye as his friends boarded the train and then strolled back to Hogwarts. Here he went to bed immediately and proceeded to sleep for two days straight only waking up to get something to eat from the kitchens and go to the toilet.

He needed this, he told himself, needed to shut off the world and the pain it contained.

.

He only got up on his second day because something happened, or someone happened…

 **Hello to you my dear readers,**

 **I want to say thank you to those of you that review, favourite and follow my story!**

 **I wish you all a Merry Christmas ^-^ I hope you enjoy this chapter, even if it is a bit short (I guess I'm not immune to Christmas stress x.x)**

 **\- formalkitty -**


	7. Chapter VII

Ethel was damned tired of seeing the empty Gryffindor table at every meal. I had been empty yesterday at all meals and it had been empty that morning. Now, as she stood in the entrance blocking the way for a couple of Hufflepuffs, she contemplated why exactly the table was empty… again. Deciding that enough was enough she turned around and angrily stomped all the way to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Not you again! I keep telling you the common room is off limits for anyone other than the Gryffindor students." The portrait wailed.

"They need to invent a button to turn down the volume on paintings," Ethel grumbled.

"Oh my, never have I ever he-"

"Oddsbodikins," Ethel exclaimed, the portrait swung open with a huff of indignation.

"Good riddance," Ethel murmured as she crawled through the entrance. Once she arrived in the common room she began descending the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories. Now, the stairs would usually transform into slides if a person of another gender tried to climb them but that was only effective on Gryffindor students. Not Ravenclaws. Ethel snorted, the staircases were meant to desperate hormone filled teenagers from getting too close. She, however, could see lots of flaws. One of them, obviously, was the exception of students from other houses, another was the fact that students could be homosexual.

Only when she had ascended the staircase did she realise that she had no idea which room Siri lived in. So she did what she found most logical.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Her scream echoed in the empty hallway, "GET YOUR FAT ARSE OUT HERE!"

A moment later a groggy looking Sirius opened the door to find out who was screaming at him.

"Ethy, what are you doing here?" He sounded so confused it was almost cute, but Ethel stood her ground.

"For Merlin's sake, Siri, stop calling me that. And I'm here to kick your pathetic butt very, very hard."

He blinked at her once, then twice and thrice, "I'd rather be sleeping."

As if that was a possibility he walked back into his room and closed his door. Ethel just stood there gaping, like hell he would get away from her after she had put so much effort into being angry. Stubbornly she threw open the door and began pulling Siri out of his bed. "Let me be," he whined, "just let me be alone, Ethy."

"So you can do what? Wallow in your own misery and self-pity?" She snapped.

"I'm fine."

"No, you aren't. You might fool James and Remus, but you can't fool me, I'm too used to your bullshit," She tugged at him harshly and he fell out the bed with a loud thump.

He stood up looking at her with a sneer on his face, "you are a vile woman, that hurt."

Ethel just shrugged, "Violence can't solve everything, but it makes me feel better besides, it worked, didn't it?"

Indeed it had worked, Sirius had been so concentrated on being annoyed with her that he hadn't even thought about Marlene. He pouted and sat down on the bed.

"Look, Siri," She sat down beside him and took his hand. He immediately began drawing small circles on her smaller palm.

"I get that you are upset about that, that woman, but this is too much. You can't go on like this, it's been a long time since you two broke up and you are still miserable."

"I'm not miserable, I'm just different…"

"Oh, bullocks, Siri. You and I both know that is a pile of horse shit. You need to snap out of it."

She looked at him expectantly, then felt something wet hit her hand. Wait was he…? Oh no…

Sirius Black, her Siri, was crying. Big fat teardrops dripped from his eyes and landed in his lap. She hugged him tightly.

"I know, I really do. It just hurts sobbed," he sobbed.

.

.

After his little breakdown, Sirius felt empty. No pain, no happiness. Just nothing: Indifference. He knew he should feel scared about this new development, but he couldn't as he felt nothing. Only when he looked at the small raven-haired girl in front of him did he feel a twinge of guilt, he was supposed to feel something when she was there and he didn't. For that, Sirius could manage to feel a bit guilty, but it was outweighed by the emptiness.

"Come on, Siri, let's go play some quidditch, eh?" Ethel patted his shoulder and pulled him up.

He reluctantly followed her: Down the stairs, out the common room, away from a mad portrait of a fat lady and out to the freezing Hogwarts quidditch pitch. Here she found a couple of school broomsticks and they agreed that she would be the keeper and he would be the chaser trying to score.

In the beginning, Sirius still felt numb, like the world was a faint buzz in the background, but soon enough he became enticed by the game and began feeling excited. Ethel was a great keeper, how she wasn't on the Ravenclaw house team he didn't know. With the excitement came another feeling: He wanted to get better, for the first time in a long time he wanted to forget Marlene.

.

Ethel was happy her tactic seemed to work, she had managed to distract Sirius from his own agony and he was laughing once they descended their brooms.

"How come you aren't on the house team? You are surprisingly good."

"I don't like people. Playing for the team would attract attention and once people notice you they try to talk to you. And that sucks. Besides, I would not make it anyway."

Sirius furrowed his brows, "You really need work on your self-esteem, Ethy. You were great out there."

"Well, thank you, but," she locked eyes with him and a shudder went through his body, she looked so serious, "I don't have low self-esteem, I just have low esteem for everyone else… The reason they wouldn't pick me is because Joanne Cooper is the current keeper. Her boyfriend, George Wright, is the team captain. He picked her over Noah Bryant this year, and Bryant was way better than her."

Sirius looked at her in dismal, "but that isn't fair!"

"Life isn't fair. It's not all rainbows and unicorns…"

They walked in silence the rest of the way.

Sirius was pondering over her words, maybe Ethel was right, the thought was reassuring: That way it wouldn't only be his life that sucked.

.

.

The next few days went by in a blurry mishmash of playing exploding snap, quidditch and drinking butterbeer in Hogsmaede. Sirius quite enjoyed his friend's company but found himself wondering why she hadn't gone home for Yule. Now that he thought about it, he really didn't know a whole lot about her family. He didn't even know who they were as he had never bothered to ask for her last name. Finally, at the night of the 24th, he found time to ask her. They were sitting in a shared common room in front of the fire. He was reading a book, while she was working on her arithmancy essay.

Sirius quietly put away his reading material, then proceeded to study Ethel. He frowned, she always had to do arithmancy… he suspected that the teacher didn't like her very much, which was a shame since Ethel really seemed to fancy the subject. As she sat there pouting over her assignment a weird thought suddenly passed through his mind. She looked really cute. Where it had come from he didn't know, but it was in his head and it wasn't going away. And she did look cute, lovely even. It was a far cry from sexy, but enough to unsettle Sirius as he remembered Prongs words: _'Have you ever considered dating Ethel, Padfoot?"_

He shook his head, Ethy was his friend. His crazy, socially awkward friend and nothing more.

Still, the thought lingered.

 _She looked cute… 'Have you ever considered dating Ethel?"_

 _Looked cute, even lovely… 'ever considered dating Ethel?"_

 _Cute, lovely… sexy?… dating Ethel?_

No way, he thought, I'm perfectly content without sticking my tongue down her throat. This made him chuckle which, in turn, caught her attention. She sent him a questioning glance.

"Ethy, why are you here?" He tried to sound serious, but couldn't help but chuckle a bias the earlier thought was fresh in mind.

"Because you are here," She answered matter of factly.

"No, I mean, why aren't you at home?"

At this Ethel's eyes hardened, her expression turned sour.

"Siri," she started, "do you know my last name?"

He sheepishly shook his head. He really should have checked it or something, but why did that even matter?

"It's Lestrange, Siri, I'm Ethel Lestrange."

"Ohh," that wasn't what he had expected… not at all.

"I don't exactly fit into the family norms. I'm a bit too soft, don't really care about blood and, therefore, see no problem in marrying 'under one's level'. So they drew me out, I think you get what I mean."

And he did, Sirius knew all too well why she meant as he had been thrown out himself.

"I'm sorry to hear that. It really sucks, and believe me I would know," he scratched his neck, "sorry I brought it up."

"Don't be, it doesn't really matter anymore. I suspect, I was adopted anyway." Her tone was humorous, but Sirius Black knew better. He knew that it always mattered when it came to family and that the words 'it doesn't matter' really meant 'it's hurting me every day'. He knew that from personal experience.

He took her hand in his. It was so small compared to his. Ethel, actually, looked small too as a whole, at least compared to him. She seemed so fragile, so delicate. Like a candle in the wind where she was the flame: Bright, warm and comfortable, yet fragile and easily destroyed.

She looked cute, though.

.

.

The very next day Ethel woke up as an owl picked on her ear. She tried to move around to get it to move but found herself securely locked by two arms around her waist. The grip tightened as she struggled to move and her back was pressed towards a firm chest. Ethel blushed a bit, then sighed. There was only one person she could have fallen asleep with, and that was Sirius.

The two of them had spent last night talking about they families, which hadn't been exciting, but still had been refreshing and better than talking about Sirius' broken heart.

"Siri," She nudged his hand and ignored the owl as it screeched a bit, "Siri?"

She felt her friend stir behind her, "Ethy?"

She reminded herself to kick James' butt some more…

"Yes, Siri, could you remove your hands?" He seemed a bit confused at this but soon realised that he was holding onto her, and released her.

She sat up and turned her attention to the owl. It was Lily's, she knew that as they had bought it together.

"Howard," she cooed, " you pretty owl, what have you got for me?"

The owl extended it's leg and showed her a small gift.

Once she had removed it she sent the owl to the owlery to get some food and water.

"Why did it give you a package?" Sirius sounded curious.

"It's a gift from Lils. Muggle do not celebrate Yule, but something called Christmas. It's about a guy that they hang from a cross or something, I think? Well, the point is that they send each other gifts. I send her one too. This year I bought her an advanced charms book"

Sirius pouted, "it sounds a bit morbid with the guy and the cross, but the gifts I suppose are quite nice."

Ethel nodded, she thought so too, but she had just smiled and pretended to understand it when Lily explained it. From what she had gathered, it had something to do with wizarding tradition, Yule, didn't require for her to send out gifts but she had to do some standard rituals at the 27th of December. All wizards had to do so.

The gift was wrapped in dark blue paper and a silver ribbon. Ethel carefully unwrapped it, making sure not to damage the wrapping paper. It just felt wrong to do so. Inside laid a small intricate silver locket and a note wishing her merry Christmas. She opened the locket and found a picture of her and Lily waving and smiling.

Oh, Lils… Her friend was too sentimental sometimes, it made it hard for her to stay mad at the temperamental redhead for long. This was also one of the reasons she wasn't really mad that Lily had sided with Marlene.

Sirius snatched her gift away from her and studied it closely.

"Why isn't the picture moving?"

"It's a muggle picture, Siri. They do not move."

Sirius stared at her intensely, "fascinating, what more do you know about the muggle world?"

"Well, for one they have something called motorcycles…"

And as such Sirius and Ethel spent the rest of the day discussing motorcycles and cars.

 **JayBat: yeah she is! Plus, I do not think it is fair if Sirius is the only one with a corny nickname ;) Ethy is also somehow fitting for Ethel as it is short fo ethylene, which** **smells faintly sweet and musky: Just like Ethel.**

 **\- formalkitty -**


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